HIJ Clothing Series One

Hugo hit me up to help spread the word for his new HIJ series one line. He will be releasing the tees at Kixpo so make sure you stop by to check them out. Below is his blog post explaining the meaning behind each design, enjoy...

So I am excited to
 finally blog about the meaning behind HIJ Clothing's very first series! As you may or may not know, the HIJ Concept is to have each shirt design inspired by a different word. I then take that word and integrate it in the design, but the word is always hidden so at first glance the design just looks like any other design. This series is inspired by some of my favorite soft drinks and I do that by using a play on words. The reason I chose soft drinks as the theme for the first series is because September of this year will mark 2 years since I have not drank Dr. Pepper, Coke or any other dark soft drink. Also July 1st marks 6 months since I have not drank any other soft drinks what so ever. Why would I do such a thing! You ask?

Well about two years ago I went to a retreat and they had a lot of candy and a lot of soft drinks. I guess so we wouldn't get bored or tired. I don't know. Thats not important the point is that the monday after the weekend I was at my house and we had a 2 liter bottle of Coke in the fridge. Me being the soda enthusiast as I was decided to grab a nice cold glass. After a couple hours though I checked back to get more soda and it was all gone. I had drank a 2 liter bottle all to my self in a couple hours. I was surprised at my self. I wasn't proud of that because ever since I was a kid I would alway feel a sharp pain in my right kidney after in taking a lot of soda or sugar and I knew that drinking all that soda would be bad for me but I did it anyways. The next morning my kidney hurt like never before. I was scared and I didn't know what to do. I was worried that it might of been a case of kidney stones or something. Luckily the pain didn't last too long and I knew that it couldn't have been kidney stones. After that though I told my self I would stop drinking any dark sodas for a year. Especially coke and my oh so favorite soft drink, Dr. Pepper. I realized that I was addicted to soft drinks. One can or bottle wasn't enough for me. I would drink soft drinks as much as I would drink water and I drink a lot of water. So I took a break from the dark sodas and eventually told my self that I would only drink any other sodas once a week until the year was over.

Well the year of no Dr. Pepper and no Coke was coming to an end and I thought it would be cool to make a design inspired by Dr. Pepper and release it after the year was over. I made the design and thought it was cool but I never thought about making a whole series about soft drinks. I originally wanted to have my first series set to release about a year ago but I was about to go to school and I didn't have the financial means to complete the series at the time. Then around december of 2010 it hit me. Alright so I am going to not drink any sodas what so ever and after that I am going to release the new series and have a release party where I will celebrate the new series and drink my self a soda can or two. The release party didn't work out this year though because of financial means. Hey I'm a college student haha but I am glad I could at least bring you the series.

I am glad all this happened though because not only are my kidneys better now but I have created a whole series that I LOVE in honor of everything that has happened. Doing these personal goals has really taught me a lot about my self. Ironic huh? Making a series inspired by the same thing that made my kidneys hurt so much. Hey I didn't say I would stop drinking sodas forever I still love and cant wait to drink sodas again, but at least now I know how to limit my self and my will power has grown a lot. Wow! So again I did not mean to write so much haha. My bad.

Now for a closer look and a little description of each shirt starting with the BIG design!

The four designs that are inspired by certain soft drinks are a play on words and this one is the most literal out of all them. I decided to do a BIG print with the word BIG on it using the HIJ Concept and making the print color red. So... BIG red. I really love big red I might even like it more than Dr. Pepper. Hmmm...

Next up is the CRUSH design!

Now we all know that feeling when your crushing on someone and where do you normally feel it? In your heart of course. So I decided to do an ORANGE heart with the word Crush repeating down through the heart. I normally never drank a lot of orange sodas but I gotta say that Orange Crush was the exception. It has a place in my heart haha. Get it? Lame joke... my bad haha.

Next is the PEPPER design!

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of a doctor? Well for me it was a stethoscope! So I designed a stethoscope and decided to put the word pepper on the end piece. I cant wait to drink a Dr. Pepper again! I was going to allow my self to drink sodas after the 6 months of no sodas promise but I think I'll wait to make it a full 2 years. Hey why not haha

Now the BEER design.

This one might be the hardest one to tell what the word says but it is there! For this design I spelled out the word beer and inside the word is an image I found of a bunch of roots. So... Root Beer! I love me some Root Beer but I have also decided to hold out on this drink to make it a complete 2 years.

Last but not least is the HIJ CLOTHING SODA CAN!

I integrated my concept by turning the word HIJ CLOTHING to it's side and putting the words closer together but it does not completely use the HIJ Concept. Call it cheating but I love this design. Maybe I'll make a soft drink one day...Hmmm...

Well thats it for this series. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has stuck with me and supported me through this journey I have gone through with HIJ Clothing. I know you all have been waiting for new designs for forever so thank you for being patient. It really has been an awesome journey. I am still not done though. This is only the beginning!

When are the shirts releasing you say?

Instead of a release party I have invested all my money on the new series and on promo items for my booth at this years KIXPO!

The shirts will be debuting at KIXPO and will go online after KIXPO on July 3rd. If you show up to this event it will be your first chance to get your hands on a tee! This years KIXPO will be at the one and only cowboys stadium! It is 15 dollars this year, but comes with free parking, admission (of course) and you get to tour the stadium!! The turn out is suppose to be around 5000 people so you know this is going to be a huge event! Local and national underground/indie/street wear clothing brands from all over will be out here selling merch and promoting. As well as sneaker displayers from all over. The kicks are going to be in sane this saturday you can NOT miss out. I will be passing out free stickers, buttons, and more so make sure to stop by!

Remember that HIJ Clothing is a very limited edition clothing company. This series only has 150 shirts with 30 of each designs. Sizes are limited so first come first serve! Event prices for the new series will be 25 dollars and once I release them online they will also be 25 dollars with shipping of 5 dollars flat. Trust me the 5 dollars of shipping fees will be worth your money. I am a tee shirt enthusiast my self and I know it is tough to buy all the shirts you want so I promised my self that I would keep my tee shirt prices under 30 DOLLARS TOTAL. In the end it is not about money. It is about doing what I love and if some day I can make a living off HIJ Clothing well that would be just a big awesome plus!

Again thank you all for your support and enjoy your soft drink tomorrow but stay safe remember that too many soft drinks really can hurt your health. A lot more than you think. As hypocritical as it sounds though I know I will enjoy my soft drink tomorrow though I'll keep ya posted!